Gabriel Morgan

There are many watershed moments in a person's life; this was one of mine. - - - - - - 15 years after Vincent first told me he loved me - - - - - - I awoke slowly, easing my eyes open to the pearly gray light of dawn drifting across my bedroom ceiling. After a second or two, I remembered last night and rolled my head carefully to the left. Tony was still asleep, on his side facing me, one hand tucked under his chin and the other spread flat on the sheet between us. His face was peace

Del settled right in to William's house. He and TJ rearranged things at their end of the place so that they slept in the smaller bedroom and used the larger master suite as an office and family room, outfitted with a comfy couch and a huge TV. Having left all his colt-starting customers behind in Loooziana, Del tagged along with TJ to work each day, and began to help with the Foundation horses. We were up to fourteen at the moment, more than Gabriel could keep up with, so Del worked on the

By the end of January I was feeling better. Not A-OK, not by a long shot, but much better. Three visits (so far) to the psychiatrist had helped me understand the reasons for my descent into the stinking hell of depression. Knowledge is power, as the saying goes, and I was beginning to enjoy life again. After my shaky seduction of Vincent in the kitchen, we were back to sleeping close to one another. I suddenly couldn’t get enough of touching him, and we spent a lot of time on the couch in t

Tuesday morning the mortuary called and said there'd been a conflict in scheduling and would we mind terribly if our loved one was interred at 4pm instead of 10am. We didn't mind, so I made a round of calls letting everyone know the time change. Ryan said that actually worked better for him since he needed to do some work over in our area on Thursday and had planned to stay the night anyway. That evening while Vincent worked late, I wandered around the silent house, wondering how long it wo

Levi and I spent a few hours together on the 28th, going over ideas on how he could fit into what was becoming a true multi-discipline training facility at Stonegate. He and Cody had skills in different areas of western riding, so they complimented each other as far as what we could offer with both of them in residence. We finally decided that they would lease the western barn from me and run their own deal. We drew up a simple agreement, with them contracting with Stonegate for such things as c

Right after Thanksgiving the weather took a turn for the worse – cold and drizzly with gusts of wind that went right through your clothes – and stayed that way. Katie’s next event was cancelled due to weather with no make-up date scheduled. That meant she had to win both remaining events to pull off a championship. The promoters lucked out the next weekend; Sunday was cold and windy, but dry enough to jump. It was only about 70 miles away, so Matt, Paula, and I dressed for the arctic and cl

Sunday morning, it was birthday time. Matt invited Adam over on the pretext of helping us choose paint colors for the kitchen. The guests had parked at the barn earlier and been ferried to the house in the van. I 'forgot' to unlock the gate, so Adam had to ring the house when he arrived, and I buzzed him in while everyone hid. When Adam walked in from the hall, we all leaped out and hollered. He was completely surprised, his mouth dropping open in shock as we all gathered around and wished him h

Katie had made her debut in the open jumper class a few weeks ago at the first event in San Antonio. Calvin had behaved himself, and they’d done well, placing 4th after Katie mis-judged the distance to the water jump, causing Calvin to step on the board for four faults. The second event of the series was in Abilene, and she did better there, placing 3rd. By the time the 3rd event came along in Tyler - right here in our own back yard - we were pretty much expecting her to win, but Calvin had

The alarm went off at six, startling all three of us. During the night we had shifted positions. I was on my back, as usual, with Vincent on his side facing away from me, his warm butt against my right hip. Danny was facing me, one hand lightly holding my upper arm, his drawn-up knees pressed into my leg. “Morning,” I told him with a smile, as he blinked sleepily at me. "Sleep okay?" "Uh-huh," he said, stifling a yawn. Vincent rolled over and climbed on top of me, humping his mo

I guess I should have seen it coming. They spent lots of time together, most of it half naked already, but the day I came home to find Matt and Katie skinny dipping took a few years off my life. To begin with, I've never seen a real live naked woman. Pictures, yes - in the flesh, no. So that was a shock in itself. Adding to that, that it was Katie - someone I knew and liked - made it even more bizarre. It was the first Saturday in August, clear and hot. I'd run over to the barn that morning

Wednesday was the one year anniversary of the day that Vincent and I had decided to become a couple. I'd been thinking about what to do for a while, and had all the arrangements made. I snuck home a little early to finish up some last minute stuff, and was just closing the front door behind me when Vincent came around the corner from the hall with a wooden spoon in his hand. "What the hell are you doing home?" he asked, pointing the spoon at me as we stared at each other in surprise. "

The trial ended on a Wednesday. Vincent recovered quickly, but it took Matt a few days to begin sleeping through the night again. He was very quiet, and spent the evenings at home, sticking close to either Vincent or me, needy for affection like when he'd first come to live with us back in November. Adam came for dinner once or twice that week, but didn't spend the night, and his conversations with Matt were stilted and awkward. They always hugged goodnight, but otherwise they rarely touche

Early on the first day of the trial the three of us climbed into the car I'd hired. The federal courthouse was an hour away, and I didn't want us to have to cope with our emotions and traffic by driving ourselves. I’d thought about taking hotel rooms for a few days, but the comforting familiarity of our own home seemed like a better idea. Despite knowing that Ray would be in the courtroom with us, it was still a shock for Matt and Vincent when he was led in. Matt glanced at him and quickly

When I got back to the barn, I called Dylan to invite him to the get-together on Sunday, but he said he was leaving for Los Angeles Saturday morning and wouldn't be back until Tuesday. We chatted a bit, and he was friendly enough, but our old easy intimacy was gone. After I hung up, I sat there lost in thought, staring out the window and thinking about Vincent. Talking to Dylan always upset me a little and I decided to indulge myself in something guaranteed to take my mind off him. I tugged

Saturday morning we had a big breakfast, courtesy of Matt and Adam, who had apparently spent the night. Between them they dirtied every pan in the kitchen, but it was worth it - bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs with thinly sliced zucchini and onion topped with cheese and salsa, and homemade biscuits slathered with my mom's grape jam. It took an hour to make and fifteen minutes to eat, but we lolled around the table for another hour, sipping coffee and picking at the biscuits. Finally, we cleaned u